Christmas Day activity - Singapore zoological gardens

On this year's Christmas Day, we planned to spend a day with the kids on their first outing to the zoo. Do purchase the entrance tickets online for discounted rates and to save time from queuing. Children under three years old enter for free so both Lele and Jonas no need to pay.

We started out late from home and were hungry by the time we reach the zoo so we sat down at the Ah Meng kitchen to have lunch while we wait for Weiwen and Jade. They joined us midway through our lunch. In my previous posts I mentioned I'll not dine at tourist attractions but it was not possible for this outing as both my husband Youzhi and Jonas slept in until very late. And again I regretted it as the Nasi Lemak we had cost $10 per plate. I guess that's the kind of pricing you will expect at a tourist spot.

It started to drizzle when we are still having lunch and the drizzle turned into a downpour. We had to wait out for the rain to stop but were glad we weren't being caught in the rain. Finally began our exploration at about 1.30pm. 
One of the first animals we saw were two wild hogs fighting using their sharp teeth.

The boys were inquisitive but at the same time scared when they saw the scene. We tried to explain to the best of our knowledge of what is happening. We moved on to the primate kingdom where both Lele and Jonas were fascinated with the free roaming animals on top of the trees above them.

The next animal we saw were elephants.

It started to rain again and we took cover at the elephant show area. But it was not time for the show so we just rested our legs while admiring the elephants at work. The boys really enjoyed each other's company as they will interact and play when we sit down to take a rest.

We continued with our journey when the rain is less heavy and had the kids sit in their prams so they will be sheltered from the rain and we can walk faster to the next spot. 
We went to one of the animal shows (didn't get the name of it) where Jonas touched the first reptile in his life. I brought him to the front of the stage to have a feel of a snake. Lele couldn't join us as he was abit put off by the loud noise of the show so Jade was standing at the back with him. This time Jonas did not fall asleep during the show and he enjoyed it as he seem excited and is happily clapping when the rest of the audience clap. 

We went to see the koalas after the animal show as they will be going back to Australia soon.

Both Lele and Jonas like the koalas and Jonas even wanted to go inside their habitat! The next animals we saw were the rhinoceros followed by giraffes.

They are having an interactive session with the giraffes and we can buy food to feed the giraffes and take photos with them but we did not join in as the queue is too long. We learnt that the giraffe have the same number of bones in their neck as human even though their necks are so long. We also found out that their tongues are black because of very little blood vessels in them. It is an adaptation so they do not bleed if the leaves they eat cut them. We were very tired by the time we came to the final animals so didn't take a lot of photos but we saw lions, puma, crocodiles, penguins and monitor lizards.

We were surprised we managed to cover almost the entire grounds even though we started late. I reckon it is because we walked pretty fast and didn't linger too long at each exhibit. Before parting ways, we made a verbal pact to find time to visit the zoo again or go to the River Safari beside it. All of us enjoyed the trip even though it was rainy most of the time and we were dead beat. Happy memories made once more with our beloved boys! :)